Tactical stage for The Ocean Race

(June 20, 2023; Day 6) – Nobody will be breaking any records today in The Ocean Race. Light winds mean speeds are still modest for both IMOCA and VO65 fleets as they slide down to the south along the west coast of the Iberian peninsula.

“It would be nice to be going faster,” said Team Malizia’s Will Harris, as his team has taken advantage of the lighter winds ahead to claw a few miles back on Team Holcim-PRB and Biotherm. “It’s a long way to Genova. It’s not a leg to be underestimated. I think anything could happen right up to the finish. There will be lots of opportunities to catch up…

“It’s a lot more tactical in these conditions. You still have to sail the boat as fast as possible and remember that everyone is dealing with the same conditions. It’s about how you overcome it.”

In the VO65 fleet, it’s WindWhisper Racing Team who have done some very good work to maintain a significant lead over the next four boats, all of whom are grouped together in a chasing pack separated by less than 30 miles.

“Last night was quite difficult. The wind was up and down and left and right, so it was hard work for the crew to keep the speed up, said Gerwin Jansen from Austrian Ocean Racing – Team Genova. “Today we expect to be sailing close to the Spanish and Portuguese coasts and doing a lot of gybing to stay in the wind.”

The forecast is for the generally light conditions to continue although from a favorable north-northwesterly direction until the boats are through the Strait of Gibraltar in two days.

And tomorrow, the first boat is expected pass the Vasco da Gama Mirpuri Foundation latitude (37-degrees north), earning a prize that will be awarded to that team’s navigator in Genova.

IMOCA – Leg 7 Rankings at 21:00 UTC
1. Holcim-PRB, distance to finish, 1290.1 nm
2. Biotherm, distance to lead, 7.7 nm
3. Team Malizia, distance to lead, 25.9 nm
Retired – 11th Hour Racing Team
Retired – GUYOT environnement

VO65 – Leg 7 Rankings at 21:00 UTC
1. WindWhisper Racing Team, distance to finish, 1163.0 nm
2. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team, distance to lead, 73.7 nm
3. Team JAJO, distance to lead, 74.2 nm
4. Viva México, distance to lead, 92.8 nm
5. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova, distance to lead, 104.1 nm
Retired – Ambersail 2

Race details – Route – Tracker – Scoreboard – Content from the boats – YouTube

IMOCA Overall Leaderboard (after 6 of 7 legs)
1. 11th Hour Racing Team — 33 points
2. Team Holcim-PRB — 31 points
3. Team Malizia — 27 points
4. Biotherm — 19 points
5. GUYOT environnement – Team Europe — 2 points

VO65 Overall Leaderboard (after 2 of 3 legs):
1. WindWhisper Racing Team — 12 points
2. Team JAJO — 9 points
3. Austrian Ocean Racing powered by Team Genova — 7 points
4. Mirpuri/Trifork Racing Team — 5 points
5. Viva México — 4 points
6. Ambersail 2 — 3 points

IMOCA: Name, Design, Skipper, Launch date
• Guyot Environnement – Team Europe (VPLP Verdier); Benjamin Dutreux (FRA)/Robert Stanjek (GER); September 1, 2015
• 11th Hour Racing Team (Guillaume Verdier); Charlie Enright (USA); August 24, 2021
• Holcim-PRB (Guillaume Verdier); Kevin Escoffier (FRA); May 8, 2022
• Team Malizia (VPLP); Boris Herrmann (GER); July 19, 2022
• Biotherm (Guillaume Verdier); Paul Meilhat (FRA); August 31 2022

The Ocean Race 2022-23 Race Schedule:
Alicante, Spain – Leg 1 (1900 nm) start: January 15, 2023
Cabo Verde – ETA: January 22; Leg 2 (4600 nm) start: January 25
Cape Town, South Africa – ETA: February 9; Leg 3 (12750 nm) start: February 26
Itajaí, Brazil – ETA: April 1; Leg 4 (5500 nm) start: April 23
Newport, RI, USA – ETA: May 10; Leg 5 (3500 nm) start: May 21
Aarhus, Denmark – ETA: May 30; Leg 6 (800 nm) start: June 8
Kiel, Germany (Fly-By) – June 9
The Hague, The Netherlands – ETA: June 11; Leg 7 (2200 nm) start: June 15
Genova, Italy – The Grand Finale – ETA: June 25, 2023; Final In-Port Race: July 1, 2023

The Ocean Race (formerly Volvo Ocean Race and Whitbread Round the World Race) was initially to be raced in two classes of boats: the high-performance, foiling, IMOCA 60 class and the one-design VO65 class which has been used for the last two editions of the race.

However, only the IMOCAs will be racing round the world while the VO65s will race in The Ocean Race VO65 Sprint which competes in Legs 1, 6, and 7 of The Ocean Race course.

Additionally, The Ocean Race also features the In-Port Series with races at seven of the course’s stopover cities around the world which allow local fans to get up close and personal to the teams as they battle it out around a short inshore course.

Although in-port races do not count towards a team’s overall points score, they do play an important part in the overall rankings as the In-Port Race Series standings are used to break any points ties that occur during the race around the world.

Held every three or four years since 1973, the 14th edition of The Ocean Race was originally planned for 2021-22 but was postponed one year due to the pandemic, with the first leg starting on January 15, 2023.

Source: TOR